Attention: The information on this website is currently out of date and should not be relied upon..

Care Services

carehome, nursing and medical services directory


Harwich House, Littlehampton.

Harwich House in Littlehampton is a Residential home specialising in the provision of services relating to accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care and learning disabilities. The last inspection date here was 22nd April 2020

Harwich House is managed by Aitch Care Homes (London) Limited who are also responsible for 25 other locations

Contact Details:

Ratings:

For a guide to the ratings, click here.

Safe: Good
Effective: Good
Caring: Good
Responsive: Good
Well-Led: Good
Overall: Good

Further Details:

Important Dates:

    Last Inspection 2020-04-22
    Last Published 2017-09-14

Local Authority:

    West Sussex

Link to this page:

    HTML   BBCode

Inspection Reports:

Click the title bar on any of the report introductions below to read the full entry. If there is a PDF icon, click it to download the full report.

10th August 2017 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

The inspection took place on 10 August 2017 and was unannounced. The service provides care and accommodation for up to nine people with learning disabilities. On the day of the inspection seven people were using the service.

Harwich House is a large house and offers residential care without nursing. There were shared bathrooms, a communal kitchen and a communal lounge and dining area.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

Why the service is rated good:

Throughout the inspection we were assisted by the registered manager. The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Staff and relatives all described the management and leadership in exceptional terms. Staff talked positively about their jobs and their shared commitment to people achieving their best. Care was based on best practice and the staff team highly motivated to achieve excellent care and good outcomes for people. The provider and registered manager were proactive and determined, they ensured effective and close monitoring of all aspects of the service to ensure ongoing improvement across all areas.

On the day of the inspection staff within the service were relaxed, there was a calm and friendly atmosphere. Everybody had a clear role within the service. Information we requested was supplied promptly, records were organised, clear, easy to follow and comprehensive.

People had limited verbal communication but we observed they felt comfortable with staff. Care records were personalised and gave people as much control over aspects of their lives as possible. Staff responded quickly to people’s change in needs and were sensitive to their moods. People or where appropriate those who mattered to them, were involved in regularly reviewing their needs and how they would like to be supported. People’s preferences were identified, known by staff and respected.

Staff put people at the heart of their work; they exhibited a kind and compassionate attitude towards people. Strong relationships had been developed and practice was person focused and not task led. Staff had appreciation of how to respect people’s individual needs around their privacy and dignity and were conscious of behaviours people might display which could compromise their dignity.

People’s risks were managed well and monitored. People were promoted to live full and active lives. Staff were highly motivated and creative in finding ways to overcome obstacles that restricted people’s independence.

People had their medicines managed safely. People received their medicines as prescribed, received them on time and understood what they were for. People were supported to maintain good health through regular access to health and social care professionals, such as GPs, speech and language therapists and the local learning disability team.

People we observed were as safe as possible. The environment was uncluttered and clear for people to move freely around the home, equipment was well maintained and outings to external venues risk assessed. Staff discreetly monitored people’s behaviour and interactions to ensure the safety of all the people and staff at the service. All staff had undertaken training on safeguarding vulnerable adults from abuse, they displayed good knowledge on how to report any concerns and described what action they would take to protect people against harm. Staff told us they felt confident any incidents or allegations would be fully investigated.

People were supported by staff that confidently made use of their knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act (2005), to make sure people were involved in

9th June 2015 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

This inspection took place on 9 June 2015 and was unannounced.

Harwich House is a residential care home which is registered to provide accommodation for nine people with a learning disability some of whom also have complex health needs. On the day of our visit there were eight people living at the home.

The last inspection was carried out in June 2013 and no issues were identified.

Throughout the inspection we were assisted by the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People and their relatives, said they felt safe with the staff. There were policies and procedures regarding the safeguarding of adults and staff had a good awareness of the correct procedures if they considered someone was at risk of harm.

Care records included guidance for staff to safely support people. People had risk assessments in place for staff to follow.

People told us the food provided was good. People had a meeting each week to plan menus and staff provided support to people to help ensure meals were balanced and encouraged healthy choices.

Recruitment checks were carried out on newly appointed staff so people could be confident they received care from suitable staff. Records confirmed all the required recruitment checks had been completed. Staffing numbers were maintained at a level to meet people’s needs.

Staff were supported to develop their skills by receiving regular training. The provider supported staff to obtain recognised qualifications such as National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) or Care Diplomas (These are work based awards that are achieved through assessment and training. To achieve these awards candidates must prove that they have the ability to carry out their job to the required standard). Harwich House employed 14 care staff, eight had already obtained additional qualifications equivalent to NVQ level two and there were another two members of staff in the process of completing this qualification. People said they were well supported

The registered manager sought people’s consent and acted appropriately when he thought people’s freedom was being restricted. CQC monitors the operation of DoLS (Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards) which applies to care homes. The registered manager understood when an application should be made and how to submit one. We found the provider to be meeting the requirements of DoLS which meant that people’s rights were protected.

People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed by their GP. Records showed that medicines were obtained, stored, administered and disposed of safely.

Privacy and dignity was respected and staff had a caring attitude towards people. To provide additional support each person was allocated a key worker. A key worker is a person who has responsibilities for working with certain individuals so they can build up a relationship with them so they can help and support them in their day to day lives and give reassurance to feel safe and cared for.

Each person had a plan of care that gave staff the information they needed to provide support to people and these were regularly reviewed. Relatives said the staff were knowledgeable and people said they were well supported by staff.

Staff were observed smiling and laughing with people and supporting them to take part in a range of activities inside and outside the home. People were supported to use facilities in the local community.

There was a policy and procedure for quality assurance. Quality audits were completed by the registered manager. These helped to monitor the quality of the service provided to ensure the delivery of high quality care.

The service delivery was open and transparent and the registered manager said they operated an open door policy and welcomed feedback on any aspect of the service. There was a stable staff team who worked well together and they were well supported by the manager. People and staff were provided with opportunities to make their wishes known and to have their voice heard. The registered manager showed a commitment to improving the service people received and completed training to ensure his own personal knowledge and skills were up to date.

7th June 2013 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

In this report the name of a registered manager appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still a registered manager on our register at the time.

We were not able to speak with some of the people who use the service due to their disabilities. Instead we spent time observing the interactions between staff and people. We found this interaction to be positive and friendly. Staff spent time with people

engaging in play and providing reassurance and support when people requested help.

We spoke with one person who told us that they were very happy living in the service and had no concerns. They spoke positively about their activities and the staff who support them.

We spoke with three staff members during this inspection they demonstrated a good knowledge of the needs of the people they supported. The staff we spoke with told us that they had a good level of training including an induction and they were encouraged to develop their skills. They also told us that they felt supported in their work and had regular supervision.

We found that the provider had addressed the concerns raised at the last inspection of this service. Training and developing staff was effective. The systems for recruiting staff had been improved to demonstrate people were protected. The service reported notifiable incidents to the commission as required.

1st March 2013 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

We were not able to speak with some of the people who use the service due to their disabilities. Instead we spent time observing indirectly the interactions between staff and people. We found this interaction to be positive and friendly. Staff spent time with people engaging in play and providing reassurance.

We spoke with two people who told us that they were very happy living in the service and had no concerns. They spoke positively about their activities and the staff who support them. We also spoke with family members who were visiting at the time of our inspection. They told us that they were happy with the service and the way their family member was cared for.

Staff feedback was mixed. The staff we spoke with told us that they had a good level of training and they were encouraged to develop their skills. They also told us that they did not always feel supported in their work. We found that whilst the provider had a system for training and developing staff it was not always effective. We also found the systems for recruiting staff were not robust enough to demonstrate people were protected.

28th November 2011 - During a routine inspection pdf icon

Due to the nature of people’s learning disability we were not always able to ask direct questions to people. We did however chat with them and were able to obtain their views as much as possible.

People said that they were happy at the home and they liked the staff that supported them. Everyone said that they felt safe at the home. We spoke to a family member who told us that their relative was supported by the staff and received the care they needed.

Staff said that they would always respect people’s wishes and when asked what they would do if they felt there may be a conflict between a person’s wishes and their care needs they told us that they would speak with the manager.

 

 

Latest Additions: